According to recent data from the Solana Foundation, the Solana ecosystem now touts more than 2,500 monthly active developers.
In a Jan. 9 report that assessed key network metrics throughout 2023, Solana claimed that its network had maintained somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 monthly active developers over the last year.
“Sustaining a consistent amount of developers is an important indicator of a healthy ecosystem as it showcases the ecosystem’s ability to attract and retain new talent,” it said, while also noting that the measurement only accounts for developers contributing in public repositories.
However, data from Electric Capital’s blockchain development tracker Developer Report shows that as of Oct. 1, 2023, Solana’s developer count was only 946, falling from an all-time high of 2,634 on Dec. 22, 2022.
Developer Report cites data from GitHub to produce data points concerning blockchain developer activity. However, the statistics were only up to Oct. 1. An Electric Capital spokesperson told Cointelegraph the data for the fourth quarter would be updated by next week.
On the other hand, Ethereum’s total monthly active developer count stood at 5,769 on Oct. 1, 2023, down 22% from its peak count of 7,433 on June 16, 2022, per Electric Capital data.
3/ Developer retention has risen over 2023 and is now over 50%, showing the commitment of new developers building on Solana.
— Solana (@solana) January 8, 2024
Developers building on Solana now more likely to still be in the ecosystem, making it easier to onboard larger amounts of developers in the future. pic.twitter.com/5nWtG7YZtO
Related: Largest Solana drainer community has over 6K members — Chainalysis
Meanwhile, developer retention on Solana has increased by 50% over the last three months, coinciding with an ongoing boom in activity on Solana’s network, as well as upward price action for the native Solana (SOL) token.
Solana had seen an outsized 500% price rally between October and December — spurred on by a frenzy for SOL-based memecoins — leading to it briefly surpassing Binance’s BNB (BNB) token to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization on Dec. 22, posting yearly highs of $122 just days later on Dec. 26.
The network also witnessed a drastic uptick in activity, briefly flipping Ethereum in 24-hour decentralized exchange volumes in the same month.
Cointelegraph contacted Solana for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Magazine: Which gaming guild positioned itself best for the bull market?